Our Missing Hearts: Reese's Book Club: A Novel

This is an engrossing read and as compelling as Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere. You will not be disappointed in this complex story of love, suspense and injustice.

My first take was that this novel was another one about a pandemic and the aftermath. Yet it is so much more. Underlying all of it is a mother’s love and the development of the main character Margaret and her son Bird. The political events at first seemed far fetched but the author did draw upon reality. She describes a very authoritarian state in the US making me picture the period of WWII and the Nazis. I loved her references to ancient fables throughout to tell her story. Her son Bird narrates and we see much through an innocent child’s mind. And playing well was the character of Sadie who shares similar experiences as Bird. Domi, the mother’s friend, and Margrets husband Ethan are used to relate the story but their real characters are a bit shallow. Recommend to readers who envision a future world that might be if we don’t engage with the direction of cultural freedom.

I give very, very few books five stars, but this one deserves it. I listened to the audiobook and read portions of this book through a local library. Wowza. This book was prescient, prophetic (in the actual sense of the word—not the popular cultural understating of it), and powerful. The storytelling is compelling and imaginative, and the writing is so beautiful. It is filled with references to other stories, and I really loved the way this book spoke to the power of storytelling. This book was a real gift for the word nerd in me, and I identified so closely with Nathan in his love of etymology. I would say it is a cautionary tale, but even if this is set in a dystopian near future, so much of what happens in Our Missing Hearts is current—seems to have been pulled from the headlines. Was it a little heavy handed at times in showing us a world so prevalent with Asian hate? Perhaps. Was the book absolutely spot on in its critique? Absolutely. And is the book is so important of read. It seems important to note that I checked out the both the library book and audiobook from my library—important because of the role libraries played in the book. This is one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to. Lucy Liu is masterful in her interpretation and (with the exception of apparently not knowing a song that appeared in one scene) doesn’t waste a word, doesn’t waste a moment. I highly recommend the audiobook!! This is a wonderful book—one that will stay with me.

For those of you who read my reviews, and I know you exist cause I got the stats, this series of reviews is a long time coming. We had an aggressively long holiday break this year, so I decided to get to books I had put off reading, and I went on a theme: blockbuster authors and their pandemic novels. I read in a spring between December 23rd and Jan 3rd Elizabeth's Strout's "Lucy by the Sea", Celeste Ng's "Our Missing Hearts" and Gary Shteyngart's "Our Country Friends". The following is a comparative review based on this sprint. I will say when I started reviewing books in 2019, I had one kid and I could never imagine having three or that there would be a pandemic, or that it would become a trope or device, like "Outsider at Boarding School" or "Something Magical on the Cape" but here we are, 2 more kids and a pandemic later. I am starting with the book I liked the least. " Our Missing Hearts". I didn't hate it, but of the three this one was the most disappointing. I love Celeste Ng, and have read her other works, and usually find her to be a lovely reflection of alot of social issues, but she took the pandemic as a catalyst for a somewhat dystopian future. Not like "Fahrenheit 451" terrible, but pretty bad nonetheless, and this one focuses around anti-asian sentiments. Fair enough it's real, even without the dystopia element, but what I disliked most about it was there were editing errors that too me out of the novel, specifically on 103 and 251. I won't reveal them, but uhhh one was so simple. There were also massive plot holes. It's like they rushed to get the novel out. There were also a lot of allusions to other works, specifically "The Library Book" , a piece of non-fiction, which I actually read, and there were some lines that seemed particularly pulled directly from this other one. There is this section where Bird's father is describing the library and he talks about the stacks and skeleton of the building, and It was a line specifically used in this other work. Also when they talk about libraries and smokers... It's not plagiarism, it was clear they were references, it was just weak editing. Not her best.

I've read many books over the past year and although I would not have chosen to read this one (it was for the book club I'm in) I am glad I read it. I wish I could give it 4.75 stars, but went with 5. Why? Personally I don't enjoy dystopian reads and concerning endings and that is the sole cause of the less than 5 stars. However, there is no doubt that the writing of Ms. Ng is stellar. She created this story and it grabs you immediately. Your are sucked into exploring the time and place. You are sucked into trying to fathom the thought processes and behaviors of the people around Bird and Ethan. The story is obviously fiction, bordering on futuristic fiction and yet; and yet, you can see how a situation as described in this book could easily become a full reality if we are not careful. Indeed, historically there were some of these situations; even today there are places families live with this over their heads. I recommend this book, but don't read expecting a sweet ending.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old. Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change. Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact. My Thoughts: There is something hollow and fearful about Our Missing Hearts as we begin the story of what life was like during the times after the “Crisis.” A time after a stringent law is passed (PACT) that focuses on people supposedly “Anti-American,” but who are mostly Asian. People whose ideas don’t jive with those who are more “in line” with American culture. Primarily we learn more about a family with a child named Bird, a mother who writes poetry but who incidentally is Asian, and a father who works in a library. What happens to this family hurts my heart, and I am feeling the angst of what can happen to families and people because of a law. An unjust law, in my opinion. Fearful of what might lie ahead for any of us kept me reading about these characters and how their lives were torn apart. And how dismantled shelves were the reminders of the books that some considered anti-American. My heart went out to what had become of these characters and what might become of any of us. 4.5 stars. ***

Noah Gardner previously went by the affectionate nickname of “Bird”, until she left and all traces of his mother were eliminated from his life. To protect themselves Noah and his father must disavow Noah’s mother, the poet Margaret Miu, all of her beliefs, and interactions. Margaret is a PAO, a Person of Asian Origin. She is Chinese and this is about patriotism. China is the enemy. The PACT (Preserving American Culture and Traditions) Act was enacted 10 years ago as a reaction to a declining economy, instability and violence. The Chinese were blamed. Since then protests have been outlawed, books have been removed from schools and libraries, citizens are encouraged to spy on one another. “You’re mom’s a traitor” kids at school yelled at Noah. He knew better than to react. New laws enacted also allowed the government to “relocate” children of dissidents. Noah might be taken away and never see his father again. Noah’s father lost his job as a linguistics sprofessor and now works for minimal wage at the library, shelving books. They lost their house and now share a 2 room dorm on university property. Noah knows nothing of his mothers work. He knows only that he misses her. When he receives a coded letter that, in his heart, he knows is from his mother, he sets out to find her. A story of power, injustice, love, the bond between a mother and her child, and what happens when previously good people look the other way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ All lthe feels for Our Missing Hearts.

It is about breaking up a loving family. It is about losing a child. It is about losing childhood. Some of the story is far fetched. The similarities of this story and the stories of all the school shootings because of the government not willing to pass laws to control gun ownership in this country; There is a parallel. The willingness of officials to get paid off. The lack of support for diversity and understanding. This story says so much. We need to protect our children more. We need to protect and share our cultures more. This story is very thought provoking.

A very scary scenario, which happened in the past in the USA towards the Japanese, and which could happen again, because of big bad China. The judgemental and autocratic actions of governments is nothing to laugh off.

The story that shall stay with me. The book i shall recommend to all who think America is great. The imagination which may be too close to reality.

Beautiful, heartbreaking, incredible. Highly recommend.

Cautivadora

I love dystopia because it explores political and social anguish. None of the problems in this novel are far fetched. You can imagine our society descending into racism and the restriction of our right to speak out. This novel is important because it tells us that individual protest is powerful. It tells us not to turn a blind eye but to speak out against oppression. It’s a sad story with moments of hope. Ng’s writing is poetic and intensely descriptive. Sometimes the description made me lose the threads of the story but I persevered because I wanted Bird to find his mother and reunite with his friend and his father. The relationship between Bird and his mother was lovely and complex. I felt terrified by the anonymous security who took children away and posed a constant, watchful threat. This novel has its roots in 1984, and A Handmaid’s Tale and Ng has used real events as inspiration for her plot. This novel is definitely one to read.